Back in ’70s when I lived in Tel Aviv, we would often travel to Europe – mostly to Paris – on any excuse we could master. Why Paris? On one one of our early jaunts we had discovered a small kosher fromagerie – cheese-maker shop (whose name I’ve long forgotten) in Les Marais, the city’s Jewish quarter. There, not only could we admire the creativity and beauty of their artisanal products, we could taste them and hear each cheese’s story and what gave it it’s particular character. Some were made with wine, some combined fruits or vegetables, some appeared as if plucked out of some colorful still life canvass. All delighted us with their looks and tastes…

Yesterday, on the second leg of my expedition in search of kosher cheeses, cheeses far superior to the old almost tasteless American kosher types of yore, Elizabeth Bland (cheese maven extraordinaire!) and I stopped over at Pomegranate (1507 Coney Island Avenue – corner of Avenue L – Brooklyn, New York 11230; Tel: 718.951.7112) and the memories of that little shop in Paris suddenly came back to me…

Pomegranate, at 1507 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn

As we looked on at Pomegranate‘s own cheese creations – they have a state of the art cheese making facility on their second floor – as we looked at their selections of foreign cheeses, whether prepackaged on foreign soils or packaged on premises we felt like little kids in a quaint little toy shop filled with the most unusual gadgets and toys. Ms. Bland proceeded to explain about various European cheeses, how to eat them, what their origins were. She especially delighted in talking about the Raclette from Ermitage. Gabe Boxer, the store manager (who explained the store’s philosophy of bringing and creating the best to suit the emerging gourmet kosher palate), told us that shortly they would be carrying the pans where one warms up the Raclette before consuming it. As I looked through the shelves I suddenly spotted the last piece of their Argentinian Reggianito Parmesan, which reminded me of my youth in Uruguay and a favorite cheese of those days… I also found what looked like a delightful Manchego…

Small detail of a shelf in the specialty cheese section

They had quite a few unusual cheeses of their own creation or created specifically for them…

So many superb selections I can’t possibly cover them all on this short post, gentle reader, you’ll just have to go in and see for yourself. I’ll have to do another post on their wide selection of pre-packaged cheeses from various American manufacturers, including artisanal cheeses.